


it's too easy to hate you

by orphan_account



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Teachers, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Enemies to Lovers, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-21
Updated: 2019-10-21
Packaged: 2020-12-24 11:27:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21098714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: dan doesn't like phil. in fact, he hates phil. he does not like phil at all. never. (so why does dan's heart malfunction when phil is around?)...okay, he might like phil a little.an enemies-to-lovers teacher au with a twist.





	it's too easy to hate you

**Author's Note:**

  * For [icosmics](https://archiveofourown.org/users/icosmics/gifts).

> special thank you to icosmics for letting me yell about this fic for the past three months :3 also thank you to [softphiily](https://softphiily.tumblr.com) and [itsmyusualphannie](https://itsmyusualphannie.tumblr.com) for beta'ing! truly a lifesaver

there are things in life that dan howell doesn’t expect. he doesn’t expect to make it past 16, he doesn’t expect to be a teacher, and he doesn’t expect to be dealing with a nemesis.

the universe has proved him wrong, as dan is now a 24 year old high school art teacher, about to share classrooms with the devil also known as phil lester.

okay, he’s exaggerating, he knows that phil isn’t the devil. phil lester is one of his coworkers, a biology and chemistry teacher that dan hasn’t really gotten along with. 

they used to be friends but dan doesn’t really wanna dig up that shitstorm right now.

all of his excitement for the new school year has basically been thrown out of the window at this point.

apparently the ceramics room caught on fire (because there weren’t any windows or chimneys, obviously) the year before dan started teaching, which resulted in distrust for anyone teaching ceramics.

the school only notifies him  _ the day before classes start _ that he has to teach his ceramics class in the science classrooms (where there’s proper ventilation because schools will pander science over art). the only teacher available to give up their room for 2nd block is phil - who doesn’t need his lab because it’s his preparation period. dan’s heavily questioning why the fuck the science department have ovens in their labs, but that’s not really his business (louise later tells him that they used to be family consumer science rooms until the program got cut to make room for more science classes.)

dan and phil are both sitting in their administrator louise’s office complaining about how the other person is such a horrible jerk that they don’t want to share that classroom with the other. louise tells them to shut up and listen to her because they’re both acting like they’re twelve year olds.

_ teaching ceramics in phil’s classroom would be the death of him _ , dan thinks. he doesn’t like thinking about it, and how phil would probably mess up everything if his labs go wrong. his classroom is also very messy, and there are toxic chemicals everywhere. 

his grudge with phil is notorious around edgewater high school. no one knows how it started, but it wasn’t always like this. dan and phil were inseparable the year that dan started teaching at edgewater, but after that they suddenly became enemies.

“dan, are you listening? you seem spaced out,” louise asks.

“i’m fine, thank you. i’ll be heading out now.” dan abruptly stands up and walks out of louise’s office, ignoring phil. he’s trying hard not to cry about this, because  _ god dammit dan, you are 24 years old and crying about something a normal person would just suck up and deal with. _

dan just fiddles with his headphones on his bus ride home as a means of distraction. it doesn’t help all that much, but it prevents him from spiraling until he can take his anxiety meds.

he supposes there’s a benefit to teaching in phil’s room. he doesn’t have to worry about a repeat of said nasty fire from four years ago because the room is well equipped.

dan’s just going to have to deal with it until the school learns how to put more money into arts education. 

classes go fine the next day. his stapler was all over the place and he wasn’t sure if it was an elaborate ruse from one of his students or a prank from another teacher. either way, he can’t be bothered to care. dan doesn’t really have much to do because it’s the first day of school, so he just gives out the syllabus in his ceramics class. in his regular art class, it’s mostly students that he’s gotten to know over the past few years of teaching here, which eases his mind into thinking maybe his therapist was right when she said that he had a lot to look forward to this school year.

all he has to do is keep calm and not let phil lester affect him. he’s here to teach, so he reminds himself that he can and should ignore phil. 

-

three weeks into the school year, dan gets a notice that his lease is expiring and he has a week to renew or move out. he’s starting to panic because the fee for renewal alone is too much and the rent is slowly starting to get higher with every passing month (fuck california). he really wanted to be a full time teacher this year because of his passion for art, but it just wasn’t possible. not a lot of people signed up for ceramics or art. dan hopes that next year his job will be full time, but he doubts it.

dan realizes that he has no choice but to move out, but the question is where. dodie is moved in with her boyfriend, and dan doesn’t want to be their third wheel. he also technically doesn’t really have any friends other than louise, but there’s probably a rule about living with your boss. louise isn’t really his boss, but their dynamic just feels like that, and he just doesn’t want to risk it.

one of his coworkers tells him that  _ phil lester  _ is looking for a roommate, and dan just sighs in exasperation. he’s honestly so desperate that he’s considering messaging phil.

long story short, phil agrees to let him be his roommate and they agree on some ground rules.

dan can handle living with phil. it’s not like they have to be friends or talk to each other. There are plenty of roommates who hate each other and still live with each other despite their differences. besides, he’s not looking for a forever home right now, he just needs a place to fucking live because california rent makes him want to end his shit.

it takes dan four days to pack and he’s late on grading art essays for the end of term, but he doesn’t want to have to deal with grading until he moves into phil’s place. whoever said that moving was easy was definitely lying.

living together is definitely a little strange. on the first few nights, he wakes up wondering where the hell he is, only to realise he’s in phil’s apartment. dan learns that phil is a night owl, and when he sees the scattered anime dvds in the living room he remembers the late nights they would spent talking about said animes. he actually kind of misses it.

wait, what?

dan curses under his breath and reminds himself that they don’t like each other and haven’t in a long time.

-

dan is looking in the supply closet, looking for the paints since the classroom is nearly running out. there’s a project coming up and right now would be the worst time for all of the paints to run dry without any replacements.

“damn this fucking closet, why can’t all of this science crap be in a different one?” he grumbles. he can’t wait to go home. dan’s had a long day with three parent meetings and grading several projects. he doesn’t have time to deal with all of the microscopes and beakers in this dusty room.

he hears the door open and shut, and he sees himself face to face with phil.

“what are you doing, i thought you would’ve gone back to the flat already?” dan asks.

“i have to prepare for a chemistry final, it’s a lab and i need microscopes,” phil explains.

dan doesn’t respond and just grabs his paints, not really caring for the colours at this point. they’re shitty paints anyways, and dan can just buy higher quality paints with his next paycheck if the students are griping about the colours.

“how was your day, dan?”

dan’s immediately startled by the sudden noise and all the paints go to the floor. luckily, they don’t spill everywhere. 

“ah! i’m sorry!” phil gasps.

dan just gives him an exasperated look. 

“look, mate, i want to go home. i have a migraine and being here is not helping me, so let me just get my paints so that i can leave sooner,” he huffs, and picks the paints up off the floor before walking to the door and pushing the handle only to realize - it’s past 9:30 and the security system automatically locks all the doors from the inside and the outside. most of their coworkers have probably gone home.

“shit, we’re locked in. i forgot the time.” dan sighs and just puts the paints back where he got them. 

“call louise.”

dan whips his phone out, but it’s not responding when he presses the power or the home button. he discovers it’s dead when the empty battery symbol pops up. he regrets not getting a new phone after seeing the 50% maximum capacity a few weeks ago.

“you call her.”

phil successfully gets ahold of her and she says she’ll be there in less than an hour.

“it’s your fault, you know,” phil says, sitting against the door.

“it’s not my fault! how was i supposed to know it was gonna be 9:30! i just wanted some fucking paint. besides, you went in here too!”

“shut up!”

“make me.” dan smirks. he’s now sitting against one of the shelves of boxes.

it’s close enough for phil to just plant a kiss on dan’s lips, which catches him off guard.

“what the hell was that for?!” he yells.

phil just shrugs at him. “it seemed appropriate.”

dan doesn’t say anything, and they sit in silence for what feels like ages.

“dan? can i ask you something?”

dan reluctantly nods his head.

“why do you hate me so much? we used to be friends! i can’t think of any reason, but maybe there’s something i don’t remember. you’re living in my apartment and i don’t want you to feel uncomfortable with my presence...and i’m kinda tired of acting like i’m mad at you when i’m not,” phil asks.

dan sighs. “i’m too worn out to be having this conversation today.”

“it’s fine, i mean, you don’t have to tell me.”

“it’s actually kind of stupid now that i think about it.” dan laughs dryly.

phil gives him a look. “what?”

“yeah, it’s literally the dumbest reason ever.”

there’s silence between them, but dan speaks up again.

“look, i was jealous of your boyfriend from last year, and by the time you broke up with him we had gotten so used to acting so petty to each other that i never bothered to quit it.”

phil opens his mouth to say something but dan cuts him off.

“doesn’t excuse what i did, but i’m sorry.”

“you had nothing to be jealous of, he was a crappy boyfriend.” phil laughs.

phil puts a hand on dan’s knee.

“i’m not mad. i rarely ever get mad, and that’s probably a bad thing, but i care about you, and i didn’t mean to pressure you into telling me. it’s really nice to know you don’t hate me though.”

he holds out his hand.

“friends again?”

dan wonders how phil is so kind about this, since most people are jerks about feuds and grudges. then again, he’s one of those jerks so he supposes that he wouldn’t really get it. he smiles at phil, and shakes his hand. “yeah.”

about half an hour later, louise opens the door for them and they go back to their classrooms to get their belongings.

when dan heads out to the front of the school, he doesn’t expect phil to still be there, but he is. he’s standing right next to the flagpole, clearly waiting for him.

“why are you still here? go home, i’ll meet you there.”

“please go home with me. i don’t want you to catch a bus at this hour.” phil asks.

dan doesn’t want to impose, but he knows that phil’s right. it’s late at night and he might get hurt taking the bus at this hour, especially if he doesn’t have anyone with him. it’s also really cold in buses.

“alright.”

-

on the way back to the apartment, phil asks him what he wants for dinner. dan’s a little shocked by the question, but from mainly the weirdness of them being friends again.

he asks for a moment to think before he tells phil that thai food sounds good, but then he remembers that it’s already late and most restaurants are close to closing time, and dan doesn’t wanna be the jerk that shows up ten minutes before closing. they settle on domino’s, which is luckily open until one in the morning. 

the pizza arrives twenty minutes later, and phil suggests that they should watch an anime or a movie together while they eat. they settle on a studio ghibli movie and this is the first time in ages where dan feels safe and happy. 

later that night, they exchange funny teacher stories and stay up until they’re too tired to function. it’ll bite them both in the ass the next morning considering they still have to teach, but it was worth it.

dan ignores the warm feeling in his gut when he wakes up next to phil on the sofa.

-

halloween rolls around the corner, and dan’s not really looking forward to it this year. he’s too old for trick-or-treating and halloween parties. phil doesn’t seem to let that stop him, though. the apartment is decked out in spider stickers and themed streamers.

“why is the apartment decorated?” dan asks when he sees the decorations. it was an off day because of fall break, so dan holed himself up in his room to finish grading things while phil was out and about. 

“halloween!” there’s a wide grin on his face as he continues hanging things up.

“my brother and i would always do this when we were younger, and even though we don’t see each other as much anymore, it feels wrong not to do it.”

dan looks at him fondly. it’s so nice that phil’s family is so supportive of him. he didn’t really have that support as a child and still doesn’t. he misses his nana though, since she was there when his parents weren’t.

phil’s voice calling his name snaps him out of thinking about what happened. he’s moved on from it.

“you alright?” phil asks. 

dan nods at him.

“great! now help me with the decorations!”

needless to say, dan’s interest in halloween has sparked up again, all thanks to phil’s decorations and scary movie marathon.

-

dan really hates sitting in staff meetings. they’re boring, useless, and redundant. he’s getting drowsy, but he’s trying to fight the urge to fall asleep. he looks at the clock and moves his arm every few minutes or so.

“psst, dan.”

dan looks to his left to see phil grinning wildly. now he’s curious.

“what?”

phil motions to look under the table, where dan sees a funny dog video playing on his phone. it takes everything in him not just burst out laughing.

only phil could make a monotonous meeting not so boring. 

louise catches dan when he unsuccessfully tries to stifle his laughter. she asks dan what they’re covering in the meeting, and phil mouths that it was about the math department.

louise looks stunned that dan knew, but drops the issue and continues to talk.

“thanks, phil.” he whispers.

“of course. it’s what friends do.”

dan feels weird about them being friends, but it’s something to be dealt with later.

-

it’s a week away from thanksgiving, and they’re watching my hero academia together. dan can’t really remember how it started, but now it’s a nightly tradition. 

phil’s one of those people that likes to be as clingy as possible when watching tv, and dan doesn’t mind at all. he kind of wants to smack his past self for being such a douche about phil’s ex-boyfriend. it’s not like dan was in love with phil, he was just jealous that phil would talk about him so much. okay, maybe that sounds like he’s in love with him, but he really isn’t.

dodie constantly teases him about it, and he’s been thinking about it a lot more. curse dodie for planting the scene in his head.

he’s not actually in love with phil, right?

sure, maybe they’d be cute together and their chemistry is great again, phil’s face is kinda cute, and maybe dan sometimes wonders what it would be like to kiss phil but - oh shit he’s in love with phil.

okay, it’s probably not love, but there are definitely feelings there.

what the actual fuck?

-

thanksgiving rolls around soon enough. he and phil get three days off before the weekend and his little sister rosie is coming to town. she’s the only one he still talks to. 

rosie’s working on a nursing degree somewhere, dan can’t really remember. but it’s so nice to finally see her again.

they’re in the kitchen preparing a turkey for dinner while phil is at the grocery store getting the other food when rosie asks a question.

“what’s going on between you and phil?” 

dan looks up from chopping the green onions.

“not much, why?”

rosie gives him a look.

“i’m not blind, you look like you’re in love with him.”

dan blushes a rosy pink, and goes back to chopping things.

“you’re right, i guess. we’re not together though.” dan says absentmindedly.

rosie puts her hand on dan’s shoulder. “you should tell him.”

dan stuffs the turkey before putting in the oven.

“yeah, maybe. now that the turkey’s in the oven, wanna go watch some anime?”

rosie grins excitedly. “race you to the tv!”

-

louise tells dan there’s gonna be a christmas lights show downtown the day school gets out for christmas break. dan figures that it’s probably an attempt to finally ask phil out, because she’s been hearing about his lonely pining, but it’s actually a good idea.

he buys the tickets for it the day after louise mentions it to him, and approaches phil during their lunch breaks to ask him out. dan just hands him the ticket awkwardly and scratches his neck.

phil gives him a confused look. “what’s this?”

dan looks at phil sheepishly. “ticket...to a christmas themed lights show. thought that you’d maybe wanna go…with me...”

phil beams. “of course i’ll go with you! it’s so nice that you thought about me, thank you!”

“oh, uh, you’re welcome. see you after work.”

dan makes a beeline for the exit and goes back to the teacher’s lounge.

-

he’s extremely nervous the night they go to the lights show together. phil must’ve picked up on it at some point, because now they’re holding hands as phil drags him all over the place to see all the pretty lights. maybe today’s the day that he gets the balls to tell phil that he’s got a crush on him. they’re not ten years old for christ’s sake, why is it this difficult?

dan gets lost in his own world while looking at phil’s bright and smiley face. his eyes are this really cool three-colour mixture that really hypnotises dan. 

he takes a creepshot of phil before stepping closer. phil squeezes dan’s hand, and he can feel himself turning red.

dan doesn’t really wanna ruin the perfect moment, so they just stay hand in hand as they walk around to see the pretty lights.

maybe some other day.

-

this christmas is the seven year anniversary of dan being disowned by his family, which is why he pretty much expects to be staying alone again. phil has plans to go visit his parents on their winter break, and his friends all have their own families too. 

except about three hours after phil’s left for the airport, he comes back.

“that was a short trip to london, mate.” dan laughs.

phil sighs. “the flight got cancelled. i don’t feel like booking another one, it’s just going to be more expensive.”

“shit, i’m sorry. i know how much it means to you.” dan shuts off his laptop and goes to sit next to phil on the couch.

phil puts his arm around him. “it’s alright. you have me.”

dan gives him a fond look. “i guess i do.”

-

dan actually remembers to buy phil a present before christmas eve. dan and phil are exploring a shop downtown, but they’re on opposite sides of the shop. both of them are the kinds of people to put off christmas shopping until the last minute, hence the shopping.

he catches a tiny cactus in the corner of his eye, and when he picks it up he’s suddenly reminded of the time when phil mentioned that he wanted a houseplant but doesn’t really know how to take care of one. 

that’s never really stopped phil, considering there’s often a dead houseplant in the corner every few weeks or so. cacti are different though.

cacti don’t require that much water. it can just sit on the living room windowsill or something, since it’s pretty sunny there.

“it’s buy one get one half off on the mini houseplants this week! would you be interested in another one?” dan turns around to see a sales associate smiling at him. he takes a quick glance at phil, who’s playing around with some keychains before turning back at the associate.

“definitely!”

he follows the salesman to the checkout line, and dan quickly pays for the mini cacti before texting phil that he’ll be in another shop.

-

they’ve pretty much spent their christmas break watching cheesy hallmark movies and anime. the whole place has been decked out in festive gear since right after thanksgiving. 

phil wakes up early on christmas eve, and dan caves in to phil’s demands of opening their christmas presents early. 

phil loves both of the cacti and his present for dan was a pair of corgi socks.

he gets emotional over these corgi socks, and it takes everything not to cry over them.

later that night, dan’s in the living room painting when phil walks in holding up christmas jumpers. he gives phil a look. 

“you know i’m going to get the jumper dirty if i wear it while i’m painting, right?”

phil just tosses the jumper to him anyways. “dan, come on. put the paints away and come play in the snow with me!”

dan thinks over it for a minute. 

“fine, but let me put all of this shit away first.”

phil’s face brightens up as he walks away.

-

it’s ridiculously cold outside but dan doesn’t mind because it’s making phil happy. 

he gets pelted with a snowball the minute he walks out. dan looks up to see phil laughing wildly and holding another snowball.

“you motherfucker!”

dan quickly grabs a handful of snow and starts chasing him around the lot. 

phil’s nowhere to be seen, and dan’s starting to get a little bit suspicious. he walks a little bit farther until he hears a sound.

“boo!”

dan gets startled, but now he knows that phil’s okay. “jesus fuck, phil, you scared me!”

“surprise.”

they laugh at each other, and then dan notices what’s above them.

dan gives phil a look and points upwards. “phil, do you realise we’re standing under mistletoe?”

phil smirks. “maybe.”

there’s a silence between them for a few moments, but it feels like forever.

“dan, can i kiss you?” 

it’s slightly dark, and dan’s grateful for that, otherwise phil could see how red his cheeks are. 

“y-yes,” dan stutters.

they lean in closer to each other, and phil closes the gap between them.

“you have no idea how long i’ve wanted to do that.” phil says when they let go.

“really?” dan laughs. “is it a little underwhelming to say ‘ditto’?”

“a little, but i know what you mean.”

phil laces his and dan’s hands together.

“let’s go home?”

phil nods at him.

-

they’re making out with each other when dan stops them.

“is this a serious thing or?...”

phil sits up. “do you want it to be?”

dan nods at him. 

“alright. i guess we’re boyfriends now.’

dan leans in close and kisses him. “i guess we are.”

**Author's Note:**

> if you enjoyed this fic please give it a kudos or a comment!
> 
> [find me here](https://sudden-sky.tumblr.com)


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